EU Parliament Approves Chat Scanning After Controversial Second Vote
The temporary rule lets platforms scan for known child sexual abuse material, while critics warn it weakens privacy and encryption.
- The European Parliament voted on Thursday to extend Chat Control 1.0, allowing online platforms to voluntarily scan for known child sexual abuse material in unencrypted communications until April 3, 2028.
- Following an initial rejection on March 26 by 311 votes to 228, with 92 abstentions, controversial procedural maneuvers brought the measure back for another vote after rules had lapsed on April 3, 2026.
- According to former MEP Patrick Breyer, The European Commission figures show mass scanning accounted for only 36 per cent of abuse reports in 2024, while The German Federal Criminal Police Office found 48 per cent of alerts were not criminally relevant.
- Apple, Google, Discord, Snapchat, Instagram, and Xbox may voluntarily scan for known material under the extension, though the rules do not mandate scanning or require breaking end-to-end encryption protecting services like WhatsApp.
- Critics argue the procedural move undermines democratic scrutiny, as the permanent Child Sexual Abuse Regulation remains under negotiation between Brussels, the Council, and Parliament, leaving genuine protection measures in jeopardy.
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18 Articles
Finnish voters were divided when the European Parliament decided to approve the continuation of platform companies' message screening. The aim is to combat child exploitation.
Online services could soon be able to search for evidence of child abuse in private chats again. The EU Parliament approved in principle a temporary exception to European data protection rules. By Kathrin Schmid.
EU Parliament approves chat scanning after controversial second vote
The European Parliament has approved an extension allowing online platforms to continue voluntarily scanning unencrypted communications for child sexual abuse material until 2028 after a controversial second vote ordered by Parliament President Roberta Metsola.
The European Parliament voted on Thursday for the temporary extension of the already granted permission to companies such as Meta, Microsoft or Google to monitor private online conversations to detect material evidence of sexual abuse against children. The previous agreement on the exemption of messaging services from EU data protection regulations expired in April, ...
The plenary of the European Parliament endorsed this Thursday to reactivate the temporary rule by which the...
The European Parliament voted on Thursday for the temporary extension of the already granted permission to companies such as Meta, Microsoft or Google to monitor private conversations online to detect material clues of sexual abuse against children, informs you.
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- 42% of the sources lean Left, 42% of the sources are Center
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